old wooden garage grow, need advice! insulation?

well we have one 4x8 tent, which will now become our veg room. then we will be setting up maybe 2 or 3 1000w. hps lights just in the garage surrounded by panda film. i have all the equipment i need b/c i am borrowing it most likely.

but im in northern california in a location where it gets very cold during the winter and that is the only real drawback at the moment.

what if the lights are on at night? wouldnt that warm them?

maybe put a heater on them? low powered fan?

or SHOULD I JUST INSULATE THE GARAGE? old wooden doors. fair amount of holes and cracks and what not.

SO WHAT IS NECESSARY?

 

How cold does it get at night? Anything under 40F and you'll need to keep the plants warm.

When it's cold out, i just run my veg on 24/0 that keeps it plenty warm. Otherwise yea it will cool down quick even in 6 hours, so you'll need a space heater. Probably take a couple days to dial in the right temp but it's not so bad. If the floor is concrete, keep your plants eleveated off of it a little bit so the bottom of the roots don't get too cold.

You should insulate if you can and it's not that costly.

 

Make 2 layers of panda, with the insulation sitting between them... and like ninfan said a space heater should be plenty... I have a friend who grows in a large attic, runs 3k for flower just like you... a cheap space heater from walmart is all you need to keep the area warm during lights off, works plenty well...

 

Yeah a cheap space heater would be all you need. Or just insulate. Depends on what you want to do.
If you do get a cheap heater you'll need to monitor the temperature closely.
Don't wanna kill your plants!!!
=)

Good luck.

 

i think the lowest temperature here last year was a new record, something like 20 degrees one night. would i need to use a light stronger than flourescent for veg if it gets super cold liek that? how insulated are the tents?

 

Grow tents are basically thicker plastic/fabric. They aren't air tight and will get cold.

CFL bulbs emit VERY little heat compared to a HID. You WILL need a space heater if you're using CFL exclusively.

 

I just run the lights at night keeps 'em warm, example: veg, on @ 6:00pm off at noon; flower, on at 6:00pm off at 6:00am.

with one of those eletric heaters to keep 'em warm on coldest days:>)